Four including a cop killed in Quetta

The brothers, who belonged to the Hazara ethnic group that is predominantly Shiite and easily recognized by their Central Asian features, were entering the city’s passport office along with their parents when the waiting gunmen opened fire.

“The boys, in their twenties, were killed in the shooting while their parents were wounded and a policeman who was passing by the site was also killed after he shot and wounded one attacker,” senior police official Abdul Razzaq Cheema said.

He added that two gunmen were involved in the shooting but they had others assist them in escaping the scene.

Akbar Hussain Durrani, home secretary of the Baluchistan province confirmed the shooting and the casualties. Police later said they had arrested one wounded suspect, who claimed he was not an attacker but a passerby.

Members of Hazara community protested by placing the bodies of victims, wrapped in shrouds, outside the regional police chief’s office, witnesses said.

No group immediately came forward to claim responsibility for the shooting, which came a day after a bomb attack in a crowded marketplace in the same city killed one and wounded eight.

Meanwhile, the manager of an NGO was stabbed to death in Jinnah Town, while police are investigating the mysterious killing.